Tapping Socialist Roots

Posted on June 4, 2005 in Crosstalk Morals & Ethics Social Justice

Tamar got me thinking about my socialist roots. Where did I get this crazy idea about a society where reasoned sharing and intelligent organization based on free public debate would rule the day?

Catholic school rather decisively put the idea of following Marx out of my mind, but several Catholic movements that arose after Vatican II inspired me to start thinking about helping the poor and the working people. Most notable among these were “the wooden cross bishops”, a group of South American bishops who sold their fine crosses and other accoutrements and gave the money to help the poor in their dioceses.

As I grew older, I was surprised that there were actually Catholics who despised the actions of these prelates. Time would come when John Paul II would suppress Liberation Theology (I never cared much for its calls for violent revolution) and new fat bishops would return to wear their silver crosses and celebrate once more in their finest silks.

But there, in Catholicism of all places, I encountered the wisdom of Jesus Christ. I met many who read the Bible for loopholes, for ways of not having to live as Christ guided his disciples to live. Combine this with a deepening sense of economic realities, of how economics in the west focused almost exclusively on the stock market and very little on employment. A supply-side economics professor at Claremont Men’s College turned me away from that style of fiscal understanding by his arrant disregard and contempt for moralities which sought to feed and clothe the hungry. I could not be that kind of person.

I became, in time, an agnostic, in part because I was exposed to the teachings of the Buddha and in part because I appreciated science more and more. When I could at last say it was possible to be a moral person without certain belief in God, I stepped into the wide circle of happy uncertainty where I now reside.

At this time in my life, I can’t see how anyone can claim to be moral and not a socialist. I cannot see a capitalist sincerely devoted to Christ. I do not reject Christ: I accept the teachings as a wise and compassionate way of life just as I accept those of the Buddha. There is no justice, no compassion, no morals without dedication to a society founded upon the greatest good for the greatest number and protection of minority rights without allowing domination of the whole by any part.

Go deep within me and that is what you will find. A rebel, an experimentor, a striver after the truth, a kind man, and a socialist. I hold no shame for being what I am.